Live and Love
by Numair's Daine
Summary: DN Starts during ROTG. With Daine & Numair in love, it seemed like happily ever after. Until the Copper Isles declared war. R&R! My 1st fanfic
1. Prologue

**Hello, this is my first fanfic, so please review! No flames, but constructive criticism is appreciated. I was planning to start where they enter the stonemaze, but I ended up here. R&R**

**Disclaimer: Honestly, if I owned these characters, I would be a millionaire. They belong to TP.**

"Who knew that the Divine Realms was so big?" Daine demanded.

Numair was abruptly startled out of his thoughts. "Magelet, all of the gods live here. Did you expect it to be small?"

"Smaller."

Numair laughed and went back to his thoughts. He shouldn't be thinking these things, but he was. His hand reached unconsciously to his wrist and felt the locket nobody knew he had. _And nobody will_, he thought firmly. It would undoubtedly end his friendship with his student. She couldn't possibly love him in return. She was too young, merely 16, to even know what love was. _No_, he thought, _it is best if I keep my feelings to myself._

"Numair, what's wrong?" Daine inquired. "Did I do something?"

"What? No Magelet, you didn't do anything. Why would you say that?"

"You haven't said anything since lunch."

"Sorry Daine, just thinking. It's getting dark. Let's find a place to make camp. How about over there?" he said, pointing to a large clearing surrounded by trees. There was a river that cut through the far end and winding its way behind the trees.

"Perfect."

They said little as they set up camp. Leaf and Jelly sat on a rock, which would be part of the soon to be fireplace, watching. Or more precisely, watching Numair. It amazed them that somebody could be so tall. Daine, seeing the focus of their attention, laughed.

Numair whirled around and glared at Daine. "What are you laughing at?" he growled.

She nodded at the two darkings. "They're fascinated by you" she told him. "Why?" This time she spoke to the darkings.

Leaf stretched up til he was about a foot tall and said something. Unable to hear, Daine bent down to his level. "Repeat that?" she asked.

Leaf repeated. This time she understood. "He's so tall. You're not. Can you become that tall?"

Daine laughed. "No, humans can't change their height like you guys can."

Numair looked at her. "What?"

"They wanted to know if I could become as tall as you."

He snorted.

"Hey, I'm not that short."

"No, you're just the right height for a woman. Men are naturally taller." he said, smirking.

"Well then maybe I should take you down a notch."

"Is that a threat?"

In reply, she tackled him. Barely missing their packs, Daine landed on top of him. "Who's taller now?" she smirked. Her breath stopped as she saw an unidentifiable emotion in his eyes.

He twisted so he was sitting up and held her down. "Me. Honestly Magelet, you should know by now I always win."

"Oh yeah?" She grinned at the shocked expression on his face when she twisted and flipped him over. "I win" she said, smiling sweetly at him, and preceded to their packs to start on their supper.

Laughing, he got up and went over to the packs with her. "If you're going to cook, then I'm going to go wash up" he said, getting into his packs.

"Ok" she said, giving him a smile that made his heart soar. He smiled and went down to the river.

The soup was finished by the time she saw Numair heading up from the river. Changing swiftly into a wolf, she raced towards the river slowing slightly to nip lightly at the legs of his pants, turned around, and raced back towards camp. Numair laughed at her antics. She came trotting back, this time with her pack in her mouth. Numair reached down, grabbed the bag from her and, with the help of his Gift, hung it up on a tree. She looked at him for a moment, clearly trying to figure out something. And then she spoke. "Very funny," she said, "now do you think I can go wash?"

She smiled a wolfish smile as Numair's face grew white and he dropped his things. "D-d-d-Daine?"

"Who else?"

"How long have you been able to do that?"

"Just now."

"I wasn't planning on teaching you that until after the war."

She snorted. Looking at her pack, she changed to a eagle and flew up to free her pack from the tree. Having achieved this, she landed on the ground, changed back to a wolf, and preceded to the river. Stopping she turned around. "The food will be ready in a moment."

As Numair sat down by the fire, he barely remembered to take the soup off the flames before he became lost in his thoughts._ Who am I ever going to keep my feelings for her a secret? _he thought, burying his head in his hands.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't hear Daine returning from her wash. "Hungry?" she asked, as she sat down beside him. He jumped and she smiled at his reaction. "Jumpy, are we?"

"You surprised me" he answered as he dished out a three bowls of cup, sitting one down on the ground for the darkings and giving her another.

They ate in companionable silence, watching the darkings slowly finish off their bowl. When they finished, Numair started to clean up while Daine laid out their bedrolls.

"Do you need to leave camp? I'm about to set up the guards."

"No," she replied getting into her bedroll. When he turned back to her after finishing, he saw that she was already asleep. Smiling, he got into his bedroll and quickly fell asleep.

**Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 1 Fallen

**Sorry about the wait. I just realized that I picked a very bad point to start in the story. I wanted to start at my favorite part, what you are about to read, but there's like a 150 pages of the book after that and I want to get to the original stuff. So it's up to you guys. Should I delete this story and start at the end of ROTG or what?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. Or the plot. If I did I would be living in a mansion and you would see me and my giantic house in magazines. **

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Fallen**

The next morning, Numair awoke to find Daine and the darkings fixing breakfast. "About time. The sun's been up for a hour."

"Not my fault." he grumbled as he got up. "You should've woke me up. We could have been half-way to the Sea of Sand by now."

"Well, excuse me for letting you sleep in."

"Not that I'm complaining." he added as he served himself and Daine breakfast. Hearing the darkings' protests, he looked down. "What, are you hungry too?" he teased as he gave them their own portion. "I wonder where they put all that food." he asked Daine.

She shook her head. "No clue. But you are not going to find out now. There will be plenty of time for you to examine them later. If they let you."

He glared at her and continued eating. After cleaning up, they continued on their way. Leaf took up its usual post around Daine's neck while Jelly tucked itself into Numair's pocket.

That afternoon they reached a rock maze. Going along carefully, they quickly noticed the multicolored liquid that almost blocked their path. Numair, after reaching out to stop Daine, tested the liquid with his magic.

"It's a chaos vent, Magelet." She nodded in recognition. "As long as we don't touch it, we should be able to easily make our way around it.

"Hold on," she said. She reached out with her magic and gently probed the vent. She gasped as the stuff of chaos started to pull her in. Numair, realizing what was happening, quickly reached out to stop her.

"Numair" she gasped, leaning against him.

"What happened?"

"It, well, it pulled me in."

"If you don't use your magic, can you go around it?"

"Yea"

"I'll go first," he said, cautiously going around the vent, using his staff for balance. All of a sudden the rocks leaped forward, catching him in a bone-crushing bear hug, and started carrying him away. Hearing Daine scream behind him, he panicked and threw his power at the rock-beings. He had never heard Daine scream before, and it terrified him. Using more of his Gift, he surrounded himself in it. The rocks cried out in pain, but didn't let go. _They mustn't be very_ _intelligent_, he thought. _They don't realize that I'm the cause of their pain. Well they're about to find out. _Throwing more of his power into the shield, they finally realized the source of their pain and released him. Running towards the cliff, he stopped in horror as he realized what happened. Daine had fallen. Trying to protect him. He had never felt worse in his life. He had to find her.

Remembering the locket, he grabbed at his wrist, uttering the spell that would undo the clasp.

_Salamena trico, undiorosea scirementa_

Catching the locket as it fell, he held it in both of his hands. He had never thought of it as a focus, but it would work perfectly. Holding it, he forced his power into it, thinking of her all the while. He didn't have time for constructing a proper spell. As he watched, a circle formed beside him, a portal that would lead him to Daine. Quickly hooking the locket, he opened the portal until it was big enough to fit his large form. As he went through, he could only hope that she was alive.

* * *

He arrived to find three large spidrens surrounding their web. Looking closer, he saw Daine inside. When he saw she wasn't moving, his worst fears were confirmed. In his grief, his magic flared, instantly blowing up the nearing spidern. Hearing the explosion, the other two turned from their prey. Jelly jumped from Numair to cover the female's face, while Leaf appeared to prevent her from using her liquid web. Numair turned to attack the remaining male.

After finishing off his opponent, he turned to the female, to find that Leaf and Jelly had suffocated her. He didn't see any point in turning to Daine. She would be with her parents by now.

"Numair?" he heard a familiar voice call. His heart stopped as he whirled around to face her.

"D-d-d-daine? Are you alive?" he asked, not daring to hope.

"I hurt to much to be dead."

Grinning in relief, he rushed to her and held her in his arms, lifting her off the ground. He looked into her eyes for a moment before he reached across the narrow distance between their lips and kissed her. He couldn't believe his luck as she kissed him back. Or was he just imagining that? He decided not to take a chance and started to pull away.

"No," she whispered, entangling her hands in his hair, pulling him back down to her. He certainly wasn't going to refuse.

"Gods Magelet. I thought I had lost you." he confided to her after they had calmed down.

"It would take a lot more than a little fall to keep me from you." she said, pulling him back into another long and passionate kiss.

He picked her up, and carried her over to a convenient log. As he sat down, she curled herself up in his lap.

"Magelet?"

"Hmm?"

"We need to find shelter soon. It'll be dark in about a hour." He waited for her reply, and received none. "Magelet?" he asked, looking down into her face, smiling as he realized she had fallen asleep. Standing up, he looked around for Leaf and Jelly, finding them on the other end of the log. "Let's go find some shelter." he told them, standing up, still cradling Daine in his arms. He grinned as she snuggled closer.

As he walked along the river, Leaf called to Numair's attention a small cave. It would easily hold them both he realized, as he looked inside. They should both be able to lay down comfortably and have a fire. He gently laid Daine down on the floor of the cave, taking off his shirt for her to use as a pillow. Gathering wood for a fire, he laid them down and when he had enough, he glared at them. Instead of bursting into flames like usual, nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. He groaned as he realized that his magic was all used up. Reaching into his pack, he found the matches. After getting the fire started, he collected more wood, with the help of Jelly and Leaf. After asking them to keep the fire going, he laid down beside Daine and fell asleep.

* * *

"Food done." Leaf called.

Daine opened her eyes. Leaf had fashioned itself a tentacle for holding onto the spoon and was stirring the soup. She looked up as she heard footsteps, blushing slightly as Numair came in.

"Good job. Thank you," he said sitting down next to the darkings on a useful log he had found outside.

Daine, groaning as she rose, went and joined them.

"How are you feeling?"

"Broken." Seeing Numair's panicked expression she added, "I'm fine Numair, really. Just a few scratches and bruises."

"Are you sure?" he asked, handing her a bowl of oatmeal.

"Positive" she replied smiling.

They were silent as they ate. Numair was too busy with his own thoughts to even notice that Daine was just as busy with her own. _I shouldn't have kissed her. What was I thinking? There's no telling how much I hurt her. When will I learn to think before I act? I'm pretty sure our friendship is over. She's probably thinking of a way to tell me nicely. She could never feel the way about me that I feel about her, _he thought.

The truth couldn't be further away. _That must've been a mistake. He was just happy I was alive. He would never be interested in me as a romantic prospect. He goes for shapely blondes. He'll tell me in a minute that he didn't mean it, that it was a mistake, and that he's sorry. He'd never feel the same way about me. _

Deciding to take a risk, she scooted closer to Numair until he was forced to move his arm to accompany her.

_What is she doing??? _he thought as she snuggled against him. _Could she really feel the same way about me? No, stop dreaming Salmalin._

"Daine?" he began after they had finished eating.

"Hmm?"

"I think I should tend to your cuts."

She moved so he could go to his packs. Coming back to her with the ointment that Sarra had packed for them in hand, he paled as he noticed that Daine had taken off her shirt.

"Daine! You should be properly clothed!" he exclaimed.

"Numair! Be reasonable! My shirt is in pieces, just like the rest of me! And besides, how are you going to tend my cuts if you can't get to them?"

"But a man of my reputation! And your innocence!"

"Reputation? And my?"

"Daine, you of all people should know that I have a reputation with the ladies in the court." he continued as he began to apply the ointment to her cuts.

"Numair?"

"Yes Magelet?"

"How did you find me?"

"It was merely simple magic Daine."

"Odds bobs! I've been around mages enough to know that it is serious magic to find someone and then go to them!"

He hesitated before replying. "I had a focus."

"A focus? Can I see it?"

He hesitated before muttering the words and giving her the locket. Holding it in her hands she started at it a minute before opening it. Inside was a miniature portrait of her face. On the other side was a small curl of her hair. It looked more like a lover's token than a focus.

"The portrait was done by Volney Rain. The hair I got when you were delirious with Unicorn Fever." His voice was expressionless but inside his heart was racing. _How would she react to the locket? Surely she will recognize it for what it is._

She studied it for a couple more minutes before handing it back to him. Lifting her face to kiss him lightly on the lips, she was surprised when he pulled away. Trying to keep the surprise from her face, she turned back around. "Numair, you've been with plenty of other women. Why do you hesitate with me?"

"Daine! Is that what you think I'm interested in? Sex?" he exclaimed.

Even though she could her the anger and hurt in his voice, his hands were still gentle.

"It's not? Then what are we talking about?"

He said nothing, but finished quickly, and turned away from her. _How did I hurt him? What did I say? _Suddenly realization dawned on her. She turned to Numair, grabbing his wrist before he could stop her. Looking at the locket again, she recognized it for what it was. A lover's token.

"You're in love with me?" she whispered, voice barely audible.

He turned his head away.

"Love's fair wondrous. Where's the harm?"

"It's not hard to make someone believe they are in love with you. If you have enough of the Gift you can do this, and not even realize. I knew if I told you my true feelings, you might believe yourself in love with me, you might even want to ma-"

"Marry you? Marry you?" she squeaked. Love was one thing; marriage was a completely different story. She had seen too many bad marriages to not recognize a life sentence when she saw one. If they got married there would be no escape.

"Numair, I know I love you. Maybe I always have."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"But this isn't something we should be trying to figure out right now. We can talk when things aren't so… complicated."

He smiled at her, pulling her into his arms. "As you wish," he whispered in her ear.

* * *

**Read and Review!**


	3. Author's Note

Okay, this story is going nowhere. It's just going to simply repeat Tamora's work for about 40 chapters and then get to the original part. Therefore, this story is over. I'm starting the story over at the end of ROTG and anybody who wants to can find the new version under my other (more used) name Kasia2010. It is a much better version and I encourage you to check it out.


End file.
